


Lost you, Missed you, Found you again

by MissMoonshine



Series: Losing, Missing, Searching, Finding [1]
Category: Fate: The Winx Saga - Fandom, Winx Club
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Magic, coming to terms with thoughts and feelings, lost family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:46:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28988715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMoonshine/pseuds/MissMoonshine
Summary: Farah died but didn't but once she's back among the living, going back to Alfea clearly isn't an option. Until she has a plan to free Saul and get her school back, there's only one place she can think of going: to see the sister in the First World, the one she hasn't spoken to in three decades.Inspired by a weird credit on imdb that has since been changed.
Series: Losing, Missing, Searching, Finding [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2157858
Comments: 43
Kudos: 120





	1. Losing and Searching

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. I didn't mean to write somthing for Fate, but once I'd seen it, I had to. This was pretty much written in one go until I fell asleep on my laptop and only had the ending left. The explanation for what possessed me to come up with this is at the end - bear with me, it's not that crazy. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this one and I promise that the next thing I'll write for this fandom (because I've got too many ideas not to) will be a little bit less...weird.  
> Also, it has gotten a bit out of hand in terms of length, so I'll split it in two - this was meant to be 3K, maybe 4K long but alas..
> 
> Obviously, I don't own Winx or Fate or any of the characters, as far as I know, they belong to Netflix and I'm just having a bit of fun.

Time was a fickle thing. No one knew that better than Farah Dowling herself.

Sometimes, the sixteen years since they had committed one of the greatest atrocities in recent memory - destroyed Aster Dell, leaving behind nothing but smoke and ruins - felt like no time at all had passed and they had been standing on those cliffs just yesterday. 

Sometimes, it felt like time didn't move forth, was at a standstill, every day dragging on and on at an agonising pace while Ben, Saul and Farah herself were haunted by the memories of that fateful day. 

Sometimes, time flew by and they were left wondering if it had truly been sixteen years already or far less because the war and their fight seemed so long ago and the world around them so different from the one they had grown up in.

They had all moved on, or had, a least, tried to. Some things in their lives had been broken beyond repair, parts of them they would never again be able to see whole. Ben had lost his wife, was left alone with their two children. Saul had to live with the burden of having killed one of his best friends and yet raise his son. Farah had imprisoned her mentor, the woman who she had thought the world of, who had taught her everything, and had lost her own family in the process.

There were no words to describe the pain they had all been in once everything had begun to settle. No one had questioned Farah’s becoming headmistress after Rosalind’s alleged death, and no one questioned their report of her demise in the final battle of Aster Dell, alongside their fallen brother in arms, Andreas of Eraklyon. Why would they? Everyone had known them, or known of them, the final battalion of Alfea, the Company of Light - the last of the great warriors. 

Every year, they had their picture taken with everyone on their troup, all of the elite. Every year, their numbers diminished as one by one, they all fell prey to the Burned Ones. 

The only person to know the truth - or part of it - of what truly happened at Aster Dell was Queen Luna, too concerned with appearances even at the time to question any of them.

Or so Farah had thought. But this year, ever since she had stumbled over Bloom, the first changeling in centuries, things had changed. Perhaps it could be attributed to Farah’s refusal to teach Stella the way Luna wanted, perhaps it was something else. Like all of them, Luna had once been Rosalind’s student and loyal to her and while she and Farah had never seen quite eye to eye on most matters, the trust Rosalind had placed in both of them had gained them at least some sort of mutual understanding that made them willing to work together.

Considering Luna’s most recent actions, though, Farah had lost every last crumb of trust and respect she had once held for the Queen. Whatever Luna was playing at, it was not something Farah wanted anything to do with. If the Queen wanted to cut her off from Solaria’s resources, fine. Farah could protect her school without Solaria's help if she had to.

Back when she had still been a student, Rosalind had seen Farah’s potential and taken her under her wing. Farah wanted to believe, desperately, that the woman who had been more of a mother to her than a mentor at times, the woman who had taken care of her when she had lost everything, had not been so corrupted by her thirst for revenge, to see all the Burned Ones destroyed, as the woman she had become towards the end of the war.

And yet she knew it was idle hope, not reality. Rosalind had seen something in Farah and nurtured it, honed her powers in the way most beneficial for her. Farah could have done anything, but Rosalind made sure she became a soldier. Her soldier, loyal to the core.

There was one thing, though, that she had not considered in her efforts to make Farah hers: She hadn’t considered that the way she had already lost almost everyone had given her a greater sense of what was right and wrong than Rosalind had after decades of being a soldier. She hadn’t considered that Farah’s moral code was still so much more important to her than her loyalty and her orders and that in the end, she would turn on her.

It had been her downfall because she hadn’t seen it coming that Farah would trap her. She couldn’t kill her, wouldn’t - she was too attached to her still, even if she hated her for everything she had done to them, but kill her? It would have been but proof that Rosalind had won and for the first time in decades, Farah was able to step out of Rosalind’s shadow and make a decision of her own.

They all spent years detangling themselves from the leftovers of Rosalind’s lies, but no one more so than Farah. And once she realised that she didn’t have to be the fairy Rosalind had wanted her to be, she turned her back on it all and sat down to study. Ben went back to his plants and his children, raised them to be the wonderful people they were now, and Saul’s attention was divided between Sky and the students he had to teach.

Farah had none of that, no children or family of her own safe for the magicless sister she had not seen since they were both children - she didn’t even know if she was still alive. No, all she had was the imprisoned Rosalind beneath her office - an office she hadn’t felt ready for at the time - and all those books. So, she studied, read, experimented, taught herself magic she shouldn’t have been able to do. Finally thought she knew what Rosalind had seen in her. Oh, Farah had always been a powerful fairy, even for her family’s standards, but once she started freeing herself of the chains Rosalind had put her in, she realised that she held much more power than she had ever thought possible. 

After years and years of meticulously analysing every single thing Rosalind had ever said to Farah, she had come to one conclusion: Rosalind had never meant for Farah to live. She had made her her protegee to keep her at her side but she had a backup plan all along. The moment Farah turned on her, Rosalind would kill her. She’d have expired her usefulness and Rosalind was too much of a fanatic to allow her to stay alive if it wasn’t by her side. Luna was, and Farah equaled her in power - not that she had known that at the time.

She had only shared those concerns with Ben and Saul, and they had both agreed. So, when Aisha told them that Bloom had gone to free Rosalind, they all knew that sooner rather than later, she would come for Farah.

None of them were stupid. They knew that Luna wouldn’t have pulled off Solaria’s army unless she was aware of Rosalind’s plan and on par with it. It worried them, Ben and Saul and her. They could stand against Solaria if they had to, but Luna knew too much - there were people inside Alfea and once, all three of them had been soldiers. They knew that they couldn’t win the war if they were fighting at two fronts.

The only consolation was that what happened in Farah’s office stayed behind closed doors and between only the three of them: Saul, Ben and Farah. Even if Beatrix had breached the trap in her office to get to Rosalind, she would have assumed that it had been powered by the school wards and that she had fed its strength over the years. The true extent of her magical proves was still very much a secret and if neither Queen Luna nor Rosalind knew about it, Farah hoped she could use it against them.

When Bloom asked her if she could go see her parents to tell them about her fairy heirloom, Farah had allowed it and suggested she’d take her friends. She had her suspicions on Bloom’s power but she needed proof and she had a feeling that whatever plan Rosalind had put into action, it would go down over the next few days. And she knew that she would try to come for her the first opportunity she got.

That was the crux of it, wasn’t it? Farah knew that Rosalind would kill her - or at least try to do so - but did she know that Farah knew? Surely, she would suspect that Farah would be careful around her but she didn’t know Farah anymore. And that was the only thing playing into her advantage here.

Yes, Rosalind had been playing the long game and planned for her capture and escape, she planned for Farah to be different now, but Farah had sixteen years to analyse every one of her interactions with Rosalind, everything Rosalind had ever said and done. She hadn’t seen this deception coming and the last few months, everything with Bloom, had her question herself again - but Rosalind was still Rosalind and while she hadn’t known everything she had done or planned, she couldn’t say that she was surprised by any of it. 

Rosalind might have been Farah’s mentor and taught her, had known her better than she had known herself at the time, but at the same time, Farah had known her. The bad bits had been there for a long time, she had just refused to see it. Rosalind had been stuck in a limbo for sixteen years but Farah had changed and while Farah knew her better than she ever had now, the reverse wasn’t true anymore.

She was outside the barrier on her own, by the new graves - waiting for Rosalind. Rosalind broke her neck. Killed her from behind, a stab in the back. Not the noble way she, as she once said, but then there was nothing noble about Rosalind anymore.

There had been a plan. Ben was in on it, and Saul. It took three days for Ben to finally show up.

‘She’s taken over the school, Farah,’ he whispered, his voice hushed and his eyes darting around as if he was afraid he had been followed. Carefully, he poured the potion onto the flowers marking the spot where Rosalind had buried her body. It only took seconds for the flowers to wither and the leaves to disappear, leaving her mangled and dirty body exposed on the ground. At least what little magic had been left in it when Rosalind snapped her neck had prevented any typical symptoms of death or rot to set in. Farah wished she could blink at least to tell him she was listening, but she had to be patient. Not much longer.

Healing was difficult magic but Ben was a master at it. It took some time but he worked diligently, silently, to heal the bones in Farah’s neck and merge the nerves together again. It was much easier when you didn’t have to worry about killing your patient. He still would have prefered a proper operating table over the forest floor.

‘The girls came back from their visit to Bloom’s parents. I wish I could have come before, but Rosalind has soldiers everywhere. It’s worse than it was in our day, Farah. Queen Luna agrees with all of it, there can’t be many soldiers left on Solaria because everyone is here.’ He swallowed. ‘Andreas is back. He’s alive, Farah, Rosalind saved him and let everyone believe he was dead because it fit better into her plans. He’s cruel, though, hungry for blood - even more than he used to be. And that girl, Beatrix? She’s in on everything too - and there’s something off about her. I can’t...I don’t know what it is. I want to fight, but Farah, Sam and Terra are at stake if I do. I can’t risk them.’ Ben swallowed thickly, then sat back and pulled Farah’s head into his lap. 

‘I think we’re ready. Do it.’ His right hand rested on the forest floor, the other on Farah’s chest as he let out a slow breath, allowed himself feel the magic of the land around him. The magic of the tree in front of him stood out, wasn’t supplied by the natural magic of this realm. He knew the magical signature anyway. Farah.

He reached out with his magic, pulled gently. It didn’t take much and Farah’s essence, her life force, left the tree and rushed back into its original vessel. Beneath his hand, he could feel her chest constrict as her heart started to beat again and she started coughing as she tried to breath. Next to them, the tree wither before his eyes. He’d fix that in a minute. Farah first.

‘Thank you, Ben,’ she mumbled, trying to sit up. Her movements were sluggish, her body stiff - she hadn’t used it in days and it had effectively been dead.

‘I’m sorry it took so long,’ he answered, helping her upright and then onto her feet. Farah shook her head.

‘I know. I heard what you said. Are the students -’ She swallowed. Her throat felt like parchment. ‘Are the students alright?’ she wanted to know and Ben sighed.

‘They are terrified but Rosalind wouldn’t harm them. Not permanently. She needs them - her next generation of soldiers.’

‘What about the girls?’ What about Bloom? 

‘They’re fine, for now. She’s too busy right now, restructuring everything - but I heard her say that she wants to teach Bloom herself - what?’ Farah, already pale from her brush with death, had turned white at his words. She closed her eyes, searching for the words.

‘Before she killed me, she told me about Bloom’s power.’ Her eyes snapped open again, found Ben’s. ‘Bloom carries the Dragon Flame, Ben. It’s how she was able to transform, why she is so powerful - why she was in Aster Dell in the first place. There were rumours, at the time, but we all discarded them - it seemed so absurd, the Dragon Flame? Everyone thought it was lost after the destruction of the eighth realm, but…’

‘But it wasn’t.’

‘No. We need to get Bloom away from Rosalind.’

‘I don’t know how.’

‘Neither do I. Yet.’ Farah swallowed, paused. ‘This changes everything. We need to get Saul-’

‘Queen Luna imprisoned him. He’s awaiting trial at Solaria - we won’t get to him anytime soon.’

‘Damnit.’

‘Farah, we can’t do anything right now. Your body died - you need to get your strength back and I have to go back to the school before they send someone after me.’

‘Wait - what did Rosalind tell everyone? About me?’

‘You’re on a sabbatical.’ Farah almost snorted at that and even Ben managed a tiny smile. ‘She said you were headed towards the mountains.’

‘Good. Will you let the girls know that I’m fine?’

‘I’ll let it slip to Terra. How are we going to stay in touch?’

‘I’ll call you when I have a new phone.’

‘Where will you go, Farah?’ There was worry in his voice and he looked her up and down, taking in her dirty, earth stained coat and the bits of soil in her hair and under her nails - he managed to clean the worst of it off with a spell, but she had been buried for three days. She was one of his oldest friends and now, for the first time in sixteen years, the three of them - Saul, Ben and Farah - would not be at the school together. 

Farah shrugged solemnly. ‘The first world. I think it’s about time I went looking for my sister.’ And go talk to Bloom’s parents to pull her out of Alfea, but she couldn’t tell Ben that yet, not when he was going back to school. She wouldn’t put him at risk like that, he had enough to worry about. ‘Look out for Bloom and those girls for me, will you?’

Ben nodded and hugged her tightly, just for a moment, before stepping back. ‘Take care, Farah.’

‘You too, Ben.’ Then he was gone and she was alone once more, left to her own devices. Farah knew she had to leave, she couldn’t hang around just outside the barrier where everyone could find her - everything - and she needed time to recuperate.

Making her way to the portal took much longer than she would have liked, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. Opening and closing it behind herself didn’t take long, but it did take much of Farah’s strength and she was irrationally glad for the little hideout Bloom had created for herself in the abandoned warehouse. Until she had a better option, she would stay there.

The sun was already low in the sky by the time Farah woke up and she wasn’t sure how long she had been out of it. She felt better, though, not great but not as drained and still half dead as before she had gone to sleep.

Gingerly, she swung her legs from the cot and went looking for something resembling a bathroom to at least try and freshen up.

Her coat was beyond salvaging, she decided, the damp soil of the forest was too ingrained into the fibre by now to ever come off again. Her hair could do with a proper wash, but for now, a spell would have to do. The ends of her trousers were stained, but it didn’t look too bad once she’d dried the leftover dirt and tried to brush it off. Like she fell in the woods, but not like she’d just climbed out of her grave. Her blouse, at least, was still presentable, covered mostly by her coat while she had been pushing daisies - it would all do until she could get something else to wear.

Bloom had left some clothes behind, a short coat among them but it felt strange to take anything - not that it would have fit her anyway. The only thing she could convince herself to take was a big scarf, more a blanket, really, that she tightly wrapped around herself.

There was a shelf with various books and notebooks, but Farah didn’t dare invade the girl’s privacy by going through her notes. Instead, she sat down on the bed again and penned out a note, saying that she had borrowed the scarf and that she had put a protection - almost like the barrier but much smaller - over Bloom’s little hideout so that only Bloom and her friends would be able to get in. Not that it would do them much good since she couldn’t tell them, but if Bloom ever came back, she would know.

Bloom. A topic Farah didn’t dare think about too much for there were too many variables. If she had known about the Dragon Flame, she thought, she would have gone about training Bloom differently. For once, she didn’t doubt Rosalind’s words, she had been sure of the origin of Bloom’s power and it made too much sense to be another lie.

It also brought up many more questions that Farah had absolutely no answer for and that was unsettling. How had Rosalind known that Bloom had the Dragon Flame; how had the blood witches at Aster Dell known? How had they managed to spirit Bloom away from her parents and how had Rosalind known she would be there? Why had she had them destroy Aster Dell only to spirit Bloom away to the First World afterwards, removed from any contact with magic? Clearly, she had planned to get Bloom back into the Otherworld eventually, probably train her herself - which she would have ample opportunity to do now - but why have her grow up without any magic around her? Was it because she thought the Burned Ones would come after Bloom if she was hidden away in the Otherworld - they had resurfaced after Bloom had first visited, after all. 

But why? What did they need Bloom - or the Dragon Flame - for? Rosalind had implied that their creation had something to do with the ancient wars and that the Dragon Flame still played a role in fueling their power - but how? And where had Rosalind found that information? 

For years now, Farah had suspected that there had been even more to Aster Dell than Rosalind’s fanatic need to see all Burned Ones dead. No, Bloom had been involved and it wouldn’t have surprised Farah if half the information that Rosalind had on the origins of the Dragon Flame and the Burned Ones - and even that name started to make sense - had come from the witches of Aster Dell. The library and the private vaults of Alfea certainly held none of that information - she had been looking for years.

Sixteen years. Sixteen years since she trapped Rosalind, since she became headmistress, since Aster Dell, since Bloom had been placed in the First World. The thought of Bloom’s childhood suddenly made Farah wonder how Rosalind had known where to place her - it felt like forever ago that they had been sitting in her office having tea after that wonderful warm hug Bloom had given her. She had asked to tell her parents about the Otherworld and told her the story of her birth, how Rosalind had changed the Peters’ baby for her because she was dying.

But how would Rosalind have known that? She wouldn’t have walked into the hospital without a meticulous plan in place already, so how had she chosen the Peters as parents for the changeling? She must have planned it in advance, long before the child was even born - which meant she must have known about the Dragon Flame long before Bloom’s birth. She would have known who Bloom’s parents were, her birth parents, and Farah had a foreboding feeling that perhaps she even was involved in spiriting Bloom away from them in the first place.

For now, Farah tried to push all those doubts and questions aside. Without any more hesitation, she ripped an empty page from one of the notebooks and then proceeded to pull a small knife from her boot. Once a soldier, always a soldier. Some habits never changed.

The knife snapped open and with no further ado, Farah cut through the skin of her left hand, mesmerised by the blood dripping onto the white page. It stood in stark contrast, shiny and dark, and it took her a moment to shake herself out of her reverie. She snapped the knife shut and with minimal effort stopped the bleeding before returning her attention to the paper.

Blood magic was almost always dark and Farah couldn’t remember a time when she had not abhorred the mere thought of it. It didn’t help that the majority of blood magic and rituals were used by witches - the name ‘blood witches’ had to come from somewhere. But there were a few more or less harmless spells too, like the one she was using now. It was grey zone - dark grey - and dangerous if one wasn’t careful, but Farah knew what she was doing. All she needed was an address.

It appeared gradually as the blood was soaked into the paper, then slowly formed words. The name came first, ‘Vanessa Dowling’, then an eerily familiar looking address. She wasn’t sure where she had seen it before, but a simple locating spell told her that it wasn’t far from her current location. She could walk, even.

The closer she got to her sister’s home, the more anxious Farah became.

She had only seen Vanessa once since they were separated as children, when she received notice of her graduation. Vanessa had been twenty three at the time, Farah twenty eíght, and they hadn’t met for twelve years before that. They hadn’t seen each other since either.

Yet another thing Farah blamed Rosalind for, although this one wasn’t entirely her fault. The Dowling family had been cursed for generations, though not in the way everyone thought. They simply thought that they could only bear daughters, never sons. But that wasn’t all of it. 

Every generation got two daughters. Not more, not less. Two daughters. One with magic, one without. If both sisters had one child, they would raise the one that was like them, be it daughter or niece. If the human sister bore both daughters, the one with magic would be raised by her sister. If the fairy sister had two children, the one without magic would go to live with her aunt in the First World once she turned sixteen. 

Algonda Dowling had been a powerful fairy and when the Burned Ones attacked their village, she had fought to protect her children alongside their father. They had both been dead before the army of Solaria had arrived. Rosalind had been with them and she had taken both Farah and little Vanessa to Alfea with her; Farah would have joined in a few months anyway and she wouldn’t want to separate sisters. 

It was one of the reasons Farah wanted to believe that Rosalind hadn’t always been a fanatic, that at some point, she had truly fought for the right thing. 

She should have seen the truth when Rosalind sent Vanessa away to the First World once she realised that she had not an ounce of magic, that she wasn’t a powerful fairy like Algonda had been and Farah promised to become. But she had been sixteen and lost and Rosalind had been there for her and given her the strength to not despair. Had told Farah that Vanessa, defenseless as she was against the Burned Ones, would be safer in the First Realm - which, at least, was true. Then she had made sure that Farah would be too busy to go see her sister and by the time she realised that they had lost touch, their aunt and Vanessa had moved and Farah didn’t know where to find them. 

Somehow, it didn’t surprise her that Vanessa lived so close to the portal - she probably didn’t even know it, had forgotten all about the Otherworld. It would be better if she had, though Farah hoped she at least remembered her. If she even recognised her. Or wanted to see her. At least let her stay overnight, because Farah had no idea where else she would go if Vanessa didn’t want to see her.

She wondered if Vanessa had married, if she had children. She probably did, but how would Farah know? She didn’t even know what she looked like - like their mother, perhaps; even as a child, Vanessa had been Algonda’s spitting image.

There it was, the house that her sister lived in. Farah swallowed thickly, her throat suddenly dry. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had been this nervous, she thought, as she slowly made her way up to the door and rang the bell. For a moment, there was only silence from inside, then she heard a shuffle as someone came down the stairs and finally, the door opened. 

Farah could only stare at the woman in front of her. It was almost like looking at a memory of her mother. There was no doubt in Farah’s mind that this was her sister. Vanessa.

‘Excuse me, can I help you?’ Vanessa asked, her head tilted slightly as she looked Farah up and down. Her face twisted into a small frown of confusion. ‘Do I know you? You look familiar.’

‘Yes - I’m sorry, yes. You know me - though you probably don’t remember me. Vanessa Dowling, right?’ She had to make sure, even if she already knew the answer, and Vanessa confirmed it with a puzzled nod.

‘I haven’t been Vanessa Dowling in a long time.’ She gave a small shrug. ‘I’ve been married for over twenty years.’

And I haven’t been there for your wedding, Farah thought to herself, then stopped the train of thought and looked around over her shoulder. ‘Vanessa, would you mind if we continued this inside? It is a long story and I don’t want anyone to overhear what I am about to tell you.’

‘I don’t know you,’ Vanessa pointed out, her voice suddenly a lot sharper. ‘I’m not about to let some stranger into my home.’

‘I’m not a stranger. Or at least, I shouldn’t be. I can’t blame you if you think I am and if you want to throw me out after I’m done, I won’t blame you either - but I hope you’ll hear me out first.’

‘Well, that would be easier if you told me who you were first.’

‘My name is Farah. Farah Dowling.’

For a moment, it looked like Vanessa might slam the door in her face, but then she took a deep breath and stepped aside.

‘You better come in.’


	2. Searching and Finding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 20 pages in, like, three days might be a new record even for me. I meant to upload this tomorrow, but I'll be a little busy, so I decided to put it up now. I hope you all enjoy this second part of my little indulgence in madness!

Vanessa led her into the kitchen and gestured at the table. Awkwardly, Farah settled down and waited for Vanessa to join her. Instead, she sauntered over to the counter, though, and poured both of them a cup of coffee.

‘Milk, sugar?’ She asked but Farah shook her head.

‘No, thank you. Black is fine.’ She took the mug from Vanessa and never let her eyes waver from her sister as she perched herself on the chair opposite Farah’s. Neither of them spoke, didn’t even know where to begin, and the silence between them stretched uncomfortably.

Eventually, it was Vanessa who spoke up, eyes fixed on a point somewhere above Farah’s head. ‘Why are you here?’

‘I had nowhere else to go.’

‘It’s been 33 years, Farah.’

‘I know. I’m sorry. There’s no excuse for disappearing -’

‘No, there isn’t. You don’t disappear for three decades and then suddenly show up because you have nowhere else to go!’

‘I should have come looking for you before, I know that. But I didn’t know where you were -’

‘That’s bullshit, Farah. Aunt Maire sent our new addresses to your school every time we moved. We never heard from you -’

‘I never got them.’ The barely suppressed anger in her voice almost made Vanessa shiver and for a moment, Farah’s eyes flashed grey, forcing her to keep her emotions in check. ‘I never got them,’ she repeated, calmer this time, ‘Rosalind - I don’t know if you remember her - she kept a lot of things from me.’

‘Rosalind. I’ve heard that name - YOU.’ It was almost as if someone had swapped the somewhat calm Vanessa from a moment ago with a different person, someone who was too furious to keep herself together as she jumped up, her hand smacking down onto the table. Farah stared at her, startled by the sudden outbreak and somewhat lost as to what was happening. She didn’t have to wait long for the explanation.

Vanessa’s eyes were fixed on Farah’s face, sharp and narrowed and had she been a fairy, they would have no doubt changed colour at her barely suppressed her fury.

‘You are the Ms Dowling of Alfea! The one who nearly got my daughter killed - or was that Rosalind? I’m a bit lost, Bloom did try to explain, but -’

‘Bloom?’ And all of a sudden, everything made sense. It all made sense - well, most of it, at least - and her shock must have shown on Farah’s face because Vanessa fell silent and just stared at her. Eventually, Farah looked up, carefully searching for her sister’s eyes. ‘Bloom is your daughter?’

‘Yes - well. Yes, she is. But apparently she’s not. She told us last weekend that she’s a changeling -’

‘I’m sorry,’ Farah repeated, though she knew that it would never stifle the pain of the daughter Vanessa lost. The real baby Bloom might have been dead for over sixteen years now, but neither Vanessa nor her husband - Mike, Farah recalled from Bloom’s file - had ever had the chance to grieve her until now. To them, the loss was still fresh. 

She reached over to squeeze her sister’s hand and to her surprise, Vanessa didn’t protest or pull away. It made Farah smile just a little before another thought hit her and her eyes widened almost comically. ‘Bloom is my niece.’

‘She is,’ Vanessa said slowly, then her frown deepened. ‘Why are you here, Farah? What happened?’

‘Bloom is the Guardian of the Dragon Flame. The Burned Ones are after her, they’re back - or maybe they were never gone. Rosalind is free and she’s taken over Alfea. She killed me.’ Her hand found its way to her neck by its own volition and she rubbed the sore spot where Ben had mended skin and bones to bring her back to life. She didn’t want to give it much more thought but her choice of words hadn’t been lost on Vanessa.

‘She killed you? But - you’re alive.’

‘Only because she didn’t think I knew that she would kill me.’ Farah sighed. ‘I was her protegee and I turned on her. She couldn’t trust me again, and an untrustworthy soldier is a liability that you want eliminated.’

‘But why you? You never did anything wrong -’

‘Oh Vanessa. You have no idea. I don’t know what Bloom told you, but when I attended Alfea, it wasn’t the school I turned it into now. It was a school where you were prepared for war - you might not remember it, you were so young and only there so briefly, but everyone who left Alfea alive left as a soldier. It was what Rosalind made us. She was our headmistress, but she was also our General. She was ruthless and while I am sorry that I never came to see you, I’m glad you were here, in the First World, safe and sound. I never thought she would pull you back into her conspiracies with Bloom.’ She shook her head. ‘I tried my best to protect the school and those children from the darkness we - I - grew up with but I’m afraid now, they’ll have to learn how to fight the hard way.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I don’t know. Not yet. I need a plan. I have to get Saul - one of my dearest friends - out of Queen Luna’s clutches - she wants to trial him for attempted murder.’

‘Is that a good idea? If he attempted to kill someone -’

‘If I had been in Saul’s shoes that day, I would have done the same thing. And I wouldn’t have failed. Andreas would be dead - he should be dead. I don’t know what story Rosalind told Luna or if she’s acting out of old loyalty, but the Queen of Solaria is treading a dangerous path.’ If the cold, ruthless tone Farah confessed her willingness to kill in startled Vanessa, she didn’t let it show. Instead, she picked up on something entirely different from her sister’s statement. 

‘The Queen of Solaria? Isn’t Bloom’s friend - Stella? - I thought she was the princess?’ 

‘Luna’s daughter, yes. She did a right job with her too. Stella is powerful but Luna wants results, no matter how. But that doesn’t matter now - I need Saul safe and then we have to figure out what to do next.’

‘What about Bloom? She’s in danger at Alfea, isn’t she?’

Farah didn’t want to agree but she had already said too much and this was about her sister’s daughter - how could she lie, especially when she too cared so much about Bloom? Sighing deeply, she rubbed her temples.

‘Yes. Alfea isn’t safe for anyone, but especially not for Bloom. But I don’t know how to get her out without suspicion yet.’

‘What if we pull her out of school?’

‘I don’t think Rosalind would allow that - but she might allow her to leave temporarily, for a family emergency?’

‘But wouldn’t she have to go back after?’

‘I’m here now, aren’t I? There are spells to protect a place from detection and if Rosalind doesn’t know where Bloom is, it might throw her at least long enough for me to come up with a plan.’

‘I’ll call Bloom right away.’

‘Don’t mention me. Ben - one of the teachers, an old friend - he knows I’m alive but as long as Rosalind thinks I’m dead, she won’t come after me.’

‘Fine. Maybe you should - you don’t have anywhere to stay, don’t you? I’ll set up the guest room for you. We still need to talk but you look like you need a bath.’

It was still awkward as Farah slipped off her boots and followed her sister upstairs, but the silence between them was far less tense than before. Vanessa was right, they still had to talk. They still had to get Bloom out of Alfea and into safety and preferably Stella as well. And maybe Aisha, though she would be safe unless Kind Teredos decided to do something incredibly stupid. Terra was best left at Alfea for now; she was strong and Rosalind had leverage in form of her father and brother against her at her disposal. The same was true for Musa; for now, she, too, was best left where she was.

‘There are towels here,’ Vanessa said and set three on the bathroom counter, ‘just use whatever you need from me. I’ll put a change of clothes at the door - my things are going to be a little short, but it’s better than what you’re wearing now.’

‘Thank you.’

‘No need. I’ll be downstairs, calling Bloom.’

She left, and Farah sank down onto the edge of the bathtub with a deep sigh. This day had taken a curve she had not at all seen coming. Rosalind had placed Bloom with her sister - for what reason, Farah still couldn’t fathom - and had kept her from her sister since she had known her. 

The tears were unbidden and unexpected and Farah looked at her fingers in surprise when she felt the wetness on her cheeks. Perhaps she shouldn’t be so surprised; she had spent years trying to find reason in Rosalind’s actions and only found fanatic madness she couldn’t explain. And yet she had been desperate to hold on to the image she had created at barely sixteen, of the woman who had taken her in and under her wing and become her mentor and advisor, someone she had trusted blindly. Her later actions she had long given up to try justify, but the early ones she had hoped weren’t yet full of deception and just another part of Rosalind’s manipulation.

She wasn’t sure exactly how long she had just been sitting there, staring at nothing, but eventually, Farah did run herself a bath. The fragrances on the back edge of the tub were strangely familiar and unfamiliar - almost like something found in the Otherworld and yet just different enough that she knew they were not.

Under different circumstances, the bath would have been relaxing but while refreshing and just what she needed for her body to calm down, her mind would not. It kept running in circles and Farah wondered how she should go to sleep later if even this utter exhaustion couldn’t keep her thoughts from spinning.

When she finally made her way downstairs, hours later, Vanessa’s husband had arrived and eyed her with curious caution. She had told him about her, it seemed, for he was unsurprised they had a guest, but Farah didn’t know what else she told him.

‘Farah, this is my husband Mike. Mike, Farah.’

‘I’m not sure if I should address you as Bloom’s teacher or Vanessa’s sister.’ He glanced at his wife. ‘I didn’t even know she had a sister.’

‘It was easier to pretend I didn’t,’ Vanessa said softly and Farah felt a pang in her heart at the thought that her sister would have rather not had a sister at all than have a sister who didn’t want her. Then, Vanessa added, ‘It was easier than explaining that my mother was a fairy killed by nightmarish monsters and I was sent to live with my human aunt. Who would have believed me?’

‘I wouldn’t have,’ Mike admitted and Farah found that she quite admired his rather brutal honesty. ‘If Bloom hadn’t told us about...well, you know, over the weekend, I wouldn’t believe you now.’

‘I’m sorry about what happened.’

‘It’s not your fault, Farah.’ Vanessa sighed tirely, then pushed the laptop on the kitchen table over to Farah. ‘Pick some clothes, you need something that fits you. You look hideous in my things.’

Farah nodded and they sat in silence while she filled out an online order. Suddenly, she hesitated and looked at her sister. ‘I don’t want to impose,’ she began slowly, ‘but I might have to ask you to pay. I could, my account is valid here, but if Rosalind keeps an eye on it…’ She trailed off but Mike’s eyes widened in understanding.

‘She’ll know you’re not dead if you use it.’

Farah gave a sharp nod. ‘At the very least she would know something was up. If I want any chance to succeed in getting my school back, I need all the advantage I can get.’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Vanessa interrupted and took the laptop from her, completing the order without comment. Once she was done, she looked up. ‘Express delivery. Should be here tomorrow. Before Bloom gets here, hopefully.’

‘Did you talk to her?’ Farah asked, eager for any news from Alfea. Her sister nodded. 

‘I did. She said everything was fine but the family emergency threw her. I told her Mike was in the hospital and that I’d call the school to see if they could get her a flight back for tomorrow. It would have been around midnight in Switzerland. She didn’t protest but Solaria runs on the same time zone as we are, so I think she knows something is off. Rosalind didn’t seem surprised by the request - she doesn’t know Bloom told us, does she?’

‘I don’t know,’ Farrah admitted honestly. ‘When she came to talk to me, she did all the talking and I doubt the girls told anyone at school. Maybe Harvey knows, but unless she’d ask him directly, he’d keep mumm.’

‘Good. Bloom should be here sometime in the afternoon, that’s the flight information she forwarded to me.’

‘Right. That’s good.’ Farah sighed and looked at her sister and her husband. ‘Thank you for allowing me to stay. I know we need to talk and that you both have questions but if you don’t mind, I would like to go to bed now. Dying drains you. I’ll answer everything in the morning.’

‘Of course,’ Vanessa agreed immediately, ‘goodnight, Farah.’

‘Goodnight,’ Mike added and Farah gave them both a tense smile.

‘Goodnight. Sleep well.’ Then she went back upstairs into the guest room, where a soft bed was waiting for her. Despite the mass of thoughts running through her head, all the worry and grief for her friends and students and everyone they lost, exhaustion overmanned her within minutes and she was fast asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

In the morning, the doorbell woke her up and when she peaked out of the window, Farah realised that it was already close to noon. A few minutes later, there was a knock on her door and Vanessa peaked in, a big parcel in her arms.

‘Your order arrived.’

‘Thank you.’

It was wonderful to be in clean, fitting clothes again and once she had twisted her hair up, Farah finally felt like a real person again. Both Vanessa and Mike were waiting for her downstairs and she sighed deeply before joining them in the kitchen. And then, over early lunch, she told them everything. Or at least everything that was relevant for them to understand the situation they were currently in and what that would mean for Bloom and Alfea and the two of them and Farah herself.

No one could say, afterwards, that it had been pretty. There had been several moments when Vanessa and Mike had been tempted to leave because they didn’t want to imagine the horrors Farah spoke of. But no one could accuse her of holding back or that she was euphemising things.

At least, after she was done, Vanessa and Mike had a very good idea of why she had held things back from Bloom and her friends and why Rosalind’s return was such a disaster.

The one time when she hadn’t begrudged Vanessa leaving the room, excusing herself to the loo, was when Farah explained what the Burned Ones were, how they hunted, preyed, killed. Vanessa didn’t need to be told. She would never forget the time she had met them. That was worse than anything she could ever say.

By the time she finished her tail, hours had passed and the air in the kitchen was heavy. No one had any appetite, the plate with cookies to their tea untouched. They had all fallen silent, for what else was there to say? Vanessa might be her sister, but she was as much a stranger to Farah as most of her students were. If anyone asked about her family, Farah would name Ben and Saul, her brothers in arms, and even Andreas, a long time ago. 

She wanted her family back, but for that, she needed a plan and until Bloom was out of Rosalind’s clutches, focusing on anything else would be impossible. Especially not when Vanessa and Mike were so incredibly fidgety that it was impossible to finish a single thought.

By the time Bloom texted them that she’d be home soon, the air in the room was so tense that Farah could barely breathe. Neither Vanessa nor Mike stopped her when she slipped outside and sat down in one of the chairs on the patio. It was warmer in California than it had been back in the Otherrealm, but not as warm as it tended to be at Alfea during the summer months. She didn’t even know the name of the city her sister lived in, had already forgotten the scrawl on the slip with the address that had brought her here, but it reminded her of the big cities of Solaria. Cities she tended to avoid, much more at home at rather remote Alfea with forests and nature surrounding her. Places like this, they got crowded too quickly and Farah had been a soldier for too long to ever feel at ease when there could be undetectable danger at every corner.

Even if it weren’t for the unpredictability of cities, she missed nature everywhere around her. She might not be an earth fairy but she had always liked being outdoors and there was just something wonderful about the sound of the woods around you. It was so easy to get lost in it, become part of it - she had in more than one sense while her body was dead and it should have been a much more unsettling experience than it had been. Instead, her mind had been strangely refreshed coming out of it and her perception of nature had shifted once more.

‘Oh my god, dad, you’re okay! Mum, why did you say he was in the hospital - what’s going on?’ Bloom’s voice was ringing through the house and MIke and Vanessa caught their daughter in the hallway before she even had the chance to panic properly. 

‘We’re both fine, honey,’ her dad assured her and then Vanessa gently put a hand on Bloom’s arm. 

‘We need to talk.’ She glanced through the french window at the patio but Farah was nowhere to be seen. Shaking her head, she followed her husband and daughter into the kitchen, their main room for family gatherings.

‘What’s going on, mum?’

‘When you got that invitation for Alfea, I wondered,’ Vanessa began without much preamble, ‘because you see, when I was a child, I lived at a school called Alfea for a while.’

‘What?’

‘You know I grew up with my aunt Maire? Because my parents died when I was a child? God, Bloom, when you started going on about the Burned Ones and Rosalind the other week, I thought -’ she broke off and shook her head. Mike gently squeezed her shoulder but Bloom stared at her with wide eyes.

‘Mum,’ she said carefully, questioningly, ‘are you a fairy?’

‘No.’ Vanessa’s answer was sharp as her eyes snapped back to her daughter. ‘I know you’re mad at me for never saying anything but I didn’t think it was all related until you told us and Far- she showed up. That’s why you’re here.’

‘The family emergency?’ Confusion was etched deep into Bloom’s face as she frowned at her parents. ‘Who showed up, mum?’

‘I did.’ None of them had noticed Farah entering, leaning against the doorway, arms wrapped around herself. ‘Hello Bloom.’

‘What?’ Bloom’s eyes went back and forth between her parents and her teacher, unsure what to make of the situation and Farah’s presence in her home. ‘How are you a family emergency, Ms Dowling? I mean, what are you even doing here? I thought you’d taken a sabbatical.’ Not that that seemed like something she would do, but that’s what they had been told.

Farah shrugged. ‘Rosalind suggested I’d disappear for a while, yes. When I refused, she snapped my neck.’ She said it with such aloofness, much more like headmistress Dowling than Farah like she had been since her arrival, that her words made Mike and Vanessa shiver while Bloom’s eyes widened when she realised the implication of what Farah had just said.

‘Rosalind killed you?’

‘Yes.’

‘But...you’re here?’

‘I’ve learned a trick or two since Rosalind stopped teaching me.’

‘Oh. But - why are you here, exactly? Mum? Dad? Why is she here?’

‘It’s a long story, honey -’

‘The short version, sweetheart,’ Vanessa interrupted her husband, her gaze flickering to Farah for a moment, ‘is that Farah is my sister -’

‘Excuse me?’

‘I had no idea, Bloom,’ Farah interrupted calmly before Bloom could break into a fully fledged bout of rage. ‘We haven’t seen or spoken in over thirty years. When Vanessa turned out not to be a fairy, Rosalind sent her away to the First World for her safety.’

‘I had no idea she was the same Ms Dowling who was your headteacher. I probably should have, but…’ Vanessa trailed off and shrugged. ‘I don’t remember much of the Otherworld but what you told me, and then Farah, I just wanted you close.’

‘So, you’re, like, staying here, then?’ Bloom cast a sceptical look at Farah, who directed the question at Vanessa with a glance.

‘Yes, she’s staying, Bloom. And you are too.’

‘What?’

‘I don’t know what Rosalind’s plan is, Bloom,’ Farah said softly, finally pushing herself off the door frame to put her hands on Bloom’s shoulders, ‘but she will use you. Has she told you about the origin of your powers yet - no? Well. I can’t say I’m surprised. Bloom, I have no idea what she’s playing at, but Rosalind’s plan involves the Burned Ones, and I do not mean that she intends to kill them all. She said there was a war brewing and she wants you and your power at the center of it.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Neither do I. But right now, the most dangerous place for you to be is Alfea.’

Bloom swallowed thickly and looked up, her eyes locking with Farah’s. ‘It’s not a nice place anymore, Ms Dowling. It’s all about fighting and war now, not classes to teach magic - only magic to fight.’

‘Just like it used to be,’ Farah muttered to herself, eliciting a small frown from Bloom. She shook her head, then smiled. ‘I suppose I should allow you to call me Farah now. We’re not at school, after all.’ By the look on her face, the mere idea of calling her teacher by her first name seemed to freak Bloom out but after a hard look from her mother, she gave a reluctant nod. 

‘I can try?’

‘That’s all we ask, sweetheart,’ Vanessa was quick to ensure her before gesturing for both of them to sit down with them on the kitchen table. ‘Farah said she’ll put up a barrier around our house so Rosalind can’t find you here.’

‘But don’t I have to go back? I mean...I have to go to school, right?’

‘I can teach you, if you allow me.’ If she was surprised by Farah’s offer, Bloom didn’t let it show but rather just gave a single nod.

‘That’d be fine, I guess.’ She hesitated. ‘What about my friends? Are they, are they safe? At Alfea?’

‘For now. What can you tell me about Alfea? What has changed? I need to know everything.’

And Bloom launched into a detailed description of all the changes Rosalind had implemented at Alfea and Farah found herself burning with rage. How dare Rosalind interfere with her school like that? How dare she and Queen Luna insinuate that she wasn’t a good teacher and that she failed to prepare her students for what was to come? She had been their headmistress in a time of peace, of course she would use different methods. And even if she had been in the office during war times, she wouldn’t ever have sunken to the level of Rosalind’s teaching; not once she realised that there were better, more effective and far less destructive ways to unlock power and potential. 

‘They’ve arrested Master Silva,’ Bloom suddenly said, eyes wide at the memory. ‘He’s been taken to a Solarian prison, he’s waiting for trial -’

‘For the attempted murder of Andreas of Eraklyon, I know. Rosalind mentioned it, and Ben said so too.’ Her eyes hardened and both Bloom and her parents swallowed. Bloom had seen Farah turn into a general before, when they had all been barricaded inside the courtyard waiting for the Burned Ones, but this was different. Her parents had never seen her look like this before, the power crackling under her skin was almost visible. ‘Now that you’re safe, Saul is next. I’ll get him out. Queen Luna is not known for keeping her prisoners well.’

‘I want to help.’

‘Bloom! You’re sixteen, you can’t break into a prison-’

‘This is all my fault, mum! If I hadn’t freed Rosalind, she’d never have been able to take over the school and then Sky’s dad wouldn’t have come back and then Stella’s mum wouldn’t have come to Alfea to arrest-’

‘None of that is your fault, Bloom,’ Farah interrupted her, surprisingly gentle. ‘Queen Luna would have tried to get rid of me anyway because I’ve refused to go along with her methodes. She was a student of Rosalind’s too, long ago - I’m not surprised that they’re working together now. But that’s not your fault, and neither is what happened to Saul.’

‘I still want to help you.’

‘We’ll see about that. There are things you need to learn first. Then we can talk.’ She glanced at Vanessa and Mike, who looked mildly horrified. ‘If your parents allow it.’

‘Mum -’

‘Like Farah said, sweetheart. We’ll talk about it when it’s time.’

‘Fine,’ Bloom huffed but for the time being, she realised that there wasn’t much else she could do. Because they all were right. She didn’t know much magic yet and if she didn’t go back to Alfea, she’d be a safety hazard if she didn’t learn somehow.

So, the next day, their lessons started. It was different from lessons back at school, where there was a room full of students, judging everything they saw. Lessons alone with Ms Dow- Aunt Farah - were focused on Bloom, on honing her talents and making her more confident in using the power she was born with. They dabbled into other branches too, a little mind magic here, a closer look at healing - just like the students at Alfea were prepared by Rosalind, Farah made sure Bloom was prepared for the war.

Stella and Aisha showed up two weeks after Bloom should have returned to school, runaways from Queen Luna’s and Rosalind’s harsh regime at school. They said no one knew they had come, they hadn’t told anyone, though Terra and Musa probably had suspected. They couldn’t stay in the Otherworld, not so close under thumb were they had no agency at all. Somehow, they didn’t seem all too surprised to see their headteacher staying with their friend - they were relieved, even, when Farah told them there was a protective veil around the house and that she was teaching Bloom.

Their lessons didn’t change much after that; time was dedicated to each fairy’s power and they all worked on mastering it. Perhaps it was a little more advanced than what first year students were usually taught, but they were only three and that was a small enough number for Farah to teach them properly. They were thriving; Aisha finally challenged by things she hadn’t tried before, Stella proudly recovering her magic and having less and less trouble accessing it and Bloom, who showed so much more control than Farah had been hoping for that first day at the stone circle.

Transformation magic hadn’t been tried again and Farah would have loved to have access to her books to read up on all that was left of those historical records of fairies still able to transform. Aisha was still in touch with Terra and Musa and they were kept up to date on the status in Alfea by the two of them and Ben. 

One day, Vanessa came home with a stack of dark, hooded cloaks, nonchalantly shrugging that if they were going to break Saul out of the palace prison of Solaria, they’d need to get in first and that was all she said on the topic.

It took them weeks, almost several months, but eventually, Farah finished planning.

First, they would get Saul back. Then, they would take everyone still loyal to them from Alfea. Then, they'd make sure that whatever danger Rosalind had spoken off was taken care of and then, they would take Alfea back and send Rosalind to hell. 

Farah had planned.

She had prepared.

‘And now,’ she whispered, ‘I’m ready to take back what I swore to protect. It’s time.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the end is somewhat open but I didn't intend for this to be a full on AU continuation of series 1, I don't have time for that xD So I decided to leave it like this because that gives you all the option to decide for yourselves what happnes after.

**Author's Note:**

> Right, so what possessed me to write something as crazy as this? Well. I'm good with names and faces but I don't always remember where I know actors from. So when I started with Fate on Friday evening and recognised most of the cast, I went onto imdb to see what I had seen them in. And then I noticed that there were two characters with the same last name: Farah Dowling and Vanessa Dowling. Intrigued, I took a screenshot and waited for the rest of the season to resolve that mystery. It didn't happen, and by Saturday afternoon, the name was changed to 'Vanessa Peters'. Now, I don't know if it was an honest mistake or an unintentional spoiler or something entirely different I can't think of, but by the time it was corrected, the idea for this story was already preventing me from writing on my other projects, so I relented and sat down to write it and here we are now.  
> I just thought maybe I should explain where this somewhat...odd? idea came from and that I did not come up with it out of nowhere.


End file.
